When Size Matters

By Joanne DePeralta, BiTMICRO Networks

Next to price, capacity has been among the top issues that levels out solid-state flash disk with magnetic hard drives. If not for those two factors, solid-state disk would be the runaway winner offering ruggedness, speed and small footprints. Recent developments though are starting to change the conditions.

According to the "New Data Center" benchmark published by Nemertes Research, "Storage is growing at a rate of 22% year-on-year through 2005 and 2006 (predicted to continue through 2007), and many companies top even that growth, reporting growth rates of 100%, 150%, and in some cases 300% or more." This only proves the point that storage capacity has gone into the level of a commodity.

Way back in the pre-PC era, storage can only refer to an attic, storeroom or any space where you dump not frequently used items that you plan to access in the near future. And by this, people are only limited to any amount of space available for that purpose. You'll have to literally fit them all in, otherwise, it goes to the thrash. The same principle applies to data storage prior to its commoditization. Unless you're working for the military or handle other highly confidential data, you won’t need that much storage space.

But that ain't true now.

What's Driving Capacity to get Bigger
According to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Tracker, worldwide external disk storage systems factory revenues grew 8.5% in the second quarter to $4.2 billion for the 13th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth. The total disk storage systems market grew to $5.9 billion for the quarter, up 6.0% from the prior year’s quarter. For the first time, total disk storage systems capacity shipped 704 petabytes, growing 51.5% from the same quarter one year ago. Huge part of this increasing demand comes from the enterprise. Online transactions and networked storage requires high capacity and speed for a good backend systems support. Blade storage have come into the picture offering advantages in size, functionality and cost of ownership. It offers bigger capacity at smaller footprints eliminating complex set-ups for cooling facilities and cables. Given this scenario, upgrades in storage capacities come as frequent as the demand for more space peaks up.

Military and industrial applications take another chunk of the demand. As of late, high capacity takes on the center stage in defining the results of experiments, research or data gathering projects. Such has happened in the NASA CREAM Project where a total of 36GB heavy-nuclei data was recorded onto a 43GB E-Disk flash drive over a period of 41 days and 22 hours on-flight. The project's objective was to investigate the composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays on board a Long Duration Balloon (LDB) vehicle developed by NASA. In cases like this, data storage capacity is as crucial as any other component of the project. It becomes the byproduct of initial investigations giving scientists critical information for accurate conclusions and discoveries.

The consumer industry is not so far behind when it comes to demand for bigger storage capacities. The introduction of Windows Vista to the market marks the need for more storage if only to improve performance by speeding up basic operations such as start-up, shut down and resume functions.

The widespread digitization of data and its convenient access via the web is another thing. From hi-resolution videos to satellite maps ready for downloading as you need it, consumers have become trigger happy mammals in hoarding all kinds of information within the bounds of their interest. Knowing you have them on your PC ready for access anytime is a surefire trigger to long for more storage capacities. This demand is coming not from one entity but from the widest range of industries including government, enterprise, military, healthcare, banking, education and of course consumer. All these industries have somehow expanded their applications producing more files that eventually need bigger storage. Desktop publishing, animation and digital video editing have increased the demand for storage in offices. 3G and multimedia cellphones on the other hand, triggered the increase in capacity for mobile storage.

And last but the biggest influence for the growth in storage capacity is the substantial decrease in price. Since its inception about fifteen years ago, SSD's drop in prices have been dramatic year on year. Just last year the cost of flash solid-state disk is at $55 per GB; now it is pegged at $30. Factors like simple cheaper raw materials, simpler processes, competition and higher demand continually push the price of storage downward, thinning the difference when compared to magnetic hard drives.

In the end, capacity and price are interlocking factors causing the growth of storage capacities. The huge capacity that was once only offered by magnetic hard drives is now possible for solidstate disk, at a price point that can fight head-on in the market.

Halfway Through

By Leilani Junghan, BiTMICRO Networks

The launch of Windows Vista, Microsoft's latest OS, in the last quarter of this year may change the computing landscape. One of its intriguing features called ReadyDrive requires the use of hybrid drives. Strictly speaking, this technology centaur is half hard disk drive (HDD), and half solid state disk (SSD) drive. Aiming to exploit the best of both worlds, hybrid drives consists of a rotating magnetic platter for storage, and a non-volatile flash memory chip for caching. Vista’s endorsement is exciting but it's human nature not to trust strange disk drives.

The tricky part is getting users acquainted with SSDs to care enough about hybrid drives. The half of the pair presents no problem. Almost everyone is familiar with HDDs – its form factor, RPM, and storage capacity – that it's almost like household furniture. While people can readily identify HDDs, they have difficulty defining SSDs. This limited knowledge of SSDs may be attributed to the fact that it is distributed to the consumer market in small doses.

Flash memory-based storage devices have permeated commercial electronic stalls in the form of thumb drives, storage chips for digital cameras, MP3/MP4 players, and mobile phones, and memory cards for PDA and handheld computers. It comes in all these forms but SSD still doesn’t ring a bell, does it?

Here's one scenario: let’s say Tom buys a digital camera and is overjoyed with his 1 GB flash disk memory…he tirelessly browses the Internet for tricks and tweaks he can do with his professional 'digicam', he combs stores for lenses, he deliberates what tripod and carry case to use… but wait, does he take time to read up on his 1 GB flash disk? At most, he will skim through a review on it but the typical answer would be No. As an average user, Tom is more concerned with the functionality of his digital camera than the wonder that is his 1 GB flash disk memory.

Imagine the same scenes playing out with Dick's brand new mobile phone and Harry’s latest PDA. If Tom, Dick, and Harry don't even bother to seek out information on their newly acquired flash disk memory, how can they ever encounter the acronym SSD? How will they learn more about this amazing technology? Surely, a lot of people are guilty of doing what Tom, Dick and Harry did.

In today’s technological arena, SSDs are more commonly used as storage solution for defense, enterprise, and other market segments that are willing to pay premium. These industries are exposed to high-risk environmental conditions and have significant storage speed, reliability and endurance demands. As such, it is easily ignored by the consumer electronics industry whose users are happy just to get the computer work on applications such as word processing, spreadsheets and Internet surfing.

The induction of hybrid drives via Vista is an opportunity for SSD to go beyond its widely accepted minor role and play a more prominent part in daily computing. As one half dedicated storage in hybrid drives even if only for caching scraps of data, the storage capacity of SSD drives has been expanded so that it cannot be missed. Even Tom, Dick and Harry will be interested to know just what this 16 GB chunk of flash drive is up to – what is it? What does it do? How can it do that?

Once these questions are answered, the public is not only more educated about SSDs, the superior points of SSD have also been inevitably unveiled – all thanks to the arrival of these dichotomous drives. What is it?

SSDs have been around and available for almost twenty years. Several industries rely on it as storage drive because it is faster, more reliable, and rugged. It can read and write data in microseconds and that’s 1000 times faster than 1 millisecond! The chances of it failing or storing corrupted data are kept to a minimum. It can withstand extreme weather conditions. The absence of moving parts also eliminates noise, heat, and weight compared to HDDs. Some of today’s most popular electronic devices, as mentioned earlier, use SSDs.

Hybrid drives plan to use a flash-based SSD to store immediate data for quicker processing. What is it for? When used in hybrid drives, SSDs act as temporary storage for write data, significant read data, frequently accessed applications and files, and any disk sector that requires quick retrieval. Because all needed data are easily accessible in the cache, much of the user’s waiting time either for storing and executing files is removed. How can it do that?

The idea is to fill up the flash disk so that the HDD is at rest. It is only when the flash disk is fully loaded when the HDD wakes up and spins so that the data from the flash disk can be transferred and stored (continued from page 1) in its cavities. This simple echanism makes possible a myriad of advantages for computer users, especially for notebook carriers. Hybrid drives promise to impress users with its operation upgrades, but do not expect any of the sparks to shoot off the HDD compartment.

The real showstopper in this invention is the flash memory chips. Bear in mind that the specifications of HDDs in hybrid drives have not exceeded the market standards: a speed not exceeding the 5400-15,000 RPM range, and storage capacity within the boundaries of 200-500 GB. Suffice to say that in reference to HDDs, there is nothing new to discuss. Whatever improvement hybrid drives guarantee – including but not limited to shortening boot up and shut down times, prolonging battery life (for notebooks), reducing energy consumption and overheating, speeding up overall performance, getting rid of noise and the extra weight – in all of these and more, the credit goes to SSDs.

After Vista's release, the notion that SSD drives only come in bite sizes can be broken. Thanks to hybrid drives, SSDs now have one leg in the storage mainstream market. These duplex drives may very well dominate the scene once Microsoft piles them on the racks. However, their reign may not last for long. Future iterations of BiTMICRO SSD products target high capacity at low cost – the very two criteria that put hybrid drives on the lead. Without these plus factors, the saga is over.

With Vista giving users the option of using hybrid drives, no one can deny that a slice of the SSD experience has also been tossed to the eager consumer market, and a door has been opened to SSD drives where its other leg is just waiting to step in. The idea of SSDs as storage option even for your typical desktop/notebook user has been sneaked in along with Vista, and time will tell when this dream will be realized. It is true what they say: there is no way to go but up and further, to the next big and better thing. It is just a matter of time before SSD drives become just one of the furniture.

Solid State Drives Expected to Challenge Hard Drives in Laptop Market

In the near future, hard disk drives (HDD) may face legitimate competition in the mobile computer mass storage market as Flash-based solid state drives (SSD) stand ready in the wings, reports In-Stat (http://www.in-stat.com). In fact, SSDs have the potential to dethrone HDD as the top laptop storage choice within 10 years, the high-tech market research firm says. The research leads In-Stat to believe that the SSD market share in mobile computers could reach 50% by 2013.

The research was driven by In-Stat's survey of 389 mobile computer users, which allowed primary insight into consumers' valuation of SSD in mobile computers. From this research, In-Stat weighed the perceived benefits of SSDs with the rapidly declining cost/gigabyte trends of Flash to develop a demand sensitive forecasting model.

"The HDD industry has done a phenomenal job of driving areal densities; however, it is clear that there are user segments for which drive capacities far exceed the user's need," says Frank Dickson, In-Stat analyst. "When one examines the declining cost trends for Flash, the user's need for storage and the premium that consumers place on the benefits provided by SSDs, it is easy to see that there will be a clear demand for SSDs."

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• Given the benefits, almost two thirds of respondents to an In-Stat consumer survey are comfortable with paying extra for SSDs in mobile computers.
• Of all the benefits of SSDs, respondents indicate that power savings is the most important.
• The market inflection point begins in 2010 for In-Stat's expected forecast, as SSDs start to become an economically viable alternative to a wider base of consumers.

BiTMICRO Signs Agreement for Kilopass 90-Nanometer XPM Memory Technology

Kilopass Technology and BiTMICRO Networks, a maker of intelligent flash solid-state disk (SSD) solutions, announced that the companies have signed a corporate license agreement. BiTMICRO is integrating Kilopass' XPM embedded, non-volatile memory technology in its next-generation system-on-chip (SoC) devices and large capacity E-Disk flash solid state disks.

BiTMICRO SoCs comprise the Translation and Linking of I/O Nodes (TALINO™) high-speed disk controllers, featuring integrated common industry standard interface cores, and the Intelligent Storage Interconnect Platform (ISIP™) flash memory controllers, which will provide high-performance multi-vendor support for large arrays of flash devices. Both controllers are expected to be deployed in E-Disk® maxIO™ SSDs, the next generation of solid state storage solutions that define BiTMICRO's vision for the much awaited proliferation of flash memory based storage in the enterprise. E-Disk® maxIO™ storage devices are very high performance SSDs that come in industry standard and small storage form factors supporting the latest high speed storage interfaces.

The SoCs with Kilopass XPM memory technology target 90nm standard logic CMOS processes from a world-leading commercial foundry. XPM technology is being used to store E-Disk® boot-up code securely, and to perform factory-floor programming to reduce the inventory management cost.

"After evaluating a number of alternatives, we chose Kilopass' XPM memory technology since it provides the best standard logic CMOS solution for our secure software storage," remarked Rudy Bruce, Executive Vice President for Marketing and Sales at BiTMICRO Networks. "XPM technology will become part of the new storage revolution that will change the way business enterprises store, process, and retrieve information," Bruce explained.

"Using embedded non-volatile memory to securely and inexpensively store boot code is one of the many applications for which companies such as BiTMICRO are turning to XPM," added Charles Ng, VP of worldwide sales and marketing. "We are pleased to be part of that next storage revolution and welcome BiTMICRO, to the growing list of Kilopass customers, who are using our patented XPM technology for secure storage."

BiTMICRO Networks Standardizes on Synopsys' DesignWare PHY IP for PCI Express and SATA

Silicon-Proven Mixed-Signal PHYs Reduce Risk and Speed Time to Production for BiTMICRO's Flash Solid State Disk Drives

Synopsys, Inc. announced that BiTMICRO Networks has chosen Synopsys' DesignWare® physical layer (PHY) Cores for PCI Express® and Serial-ATA (SATA) high-speed serial interfaces. DesignWare PHY's are a part of Synopsys' industry-leading portfolio of connectivity intellectual property (IP). These will be used by BiTMICRO for the development of their flash solid state disk drives. BiTMICRO's system-on-chip (SoC) designs will take advantage of the DesignWare PHYs' very low bit error rate and ultra low power consumption to help provide system OEMs and enterprise storage end-users with high performance, reliability and robustness for their mission-critical applications.

In order to get to volume production quickly with lower risk of integration errors, BiTMICRO chose the silicon-proven DesignWare PHY Cores for PCI Express and SATA interfaces. Architected specifically for reuse in standard CMOS processes, these DesignWare PHYs are extensively validated through third-party compliance labs and plugfests and include the complete set of deliverables required for fast and easy integration. The DesignWare PHYs tolerate process, voltage and temperature variations without compromising performance such as bit error rate, power and area. This performance is backed by detailed silicon characterization reports and PCI-SIG and SATA-IO compliance certification, giving companies like BiTMICRO confidence that their end-products will properly interoperate with these industry standard interfaces.

"BiTMICRO recognizes the importance of working with a leading connectivity IP provider such as Synopsys, who can provide a broad portfolio of proven and compliant PHYs to help us achieve our time-to-market goals in the most cost-effective manner," said Rudy Bruce, executive vice president of Marketing and Sales at BiTMICRO Networks. "We expect this collaboration to result in the rapid development of reliable and ultra-low power SoC solutions for our customers."

"The silicon-proven Synopsys PCI Express and SATA PHYs will help ensure that BiTMICRO will be able to meet tight schedules for their flash memory management products with PCI Express and SATA interfaces," said Guri Stark, vice president of Marketing for the Solutions Group at Synopsys. "DesignWare PHY IP helps to lower integration risk and give SoC designers predictable results in demanding, mission-critical applications like BiTMICRO's in the industrial, embedded computing, medical, and aerospace industries."

Beyond the Battlefield

Flash solid state disks (SSDs) have undoubtedly gained a strong foothold in the military and enterprise markets. Its capacity to withstand extreme conditions made it fit for on and off ground military operations while speed has been its passport to the enterprise market. Right now, SSDs are moving past these two markets to capture a slice of the consumer electronics market.

According to the Consumer Electronics Association's Annual Industry Forecast, factory sales of consumer electronics in the US alone is expected to reach a new high of $135.4 billion by the end of 2006. It will be an eight percent increase from the previous year and is expected to post growth consistently over the next few years.

Current technology trends show a great deal of opportunity for flash SSDs. Technology hybrids sprout from everywhere, where mobile phones get to store more photos and video clips or TV sets can record programs for later viewing. By this, gadgets are bound to increase storage capacities as devices get packed with more functionality.

Logically, the industry will continue to break new boundaries as buyers demand smaller, more powerful, higher capacity and longer lasting gadgets and equipment. These in turn will drive demand for SoC components. A report entitled System-on-a-Chip: Technology, Markets estimated the worldwide SOC market at nearly $14.4 billion in 2005. Expected to grow at an average annual growth rate of 24.6%, this market will reach $43.2 billion by 2009. Unit growth will average 18.4% on average per year to reach 2.2 billion in 2009, and average unit prices will increase from a current level of $15.2 to $19.6 by the end of the forecast period.

Crossover Benefits
The benefits of speed and ruggedness work well with consumer electronics as it does with the military and enterprise markets. As the age of mobility and instant access to data is ushered in, buyers have put a premium to devices that would allow them to get through their network fast and easy even when on the road. Portable devices have become a commoner's device to send and receive data, enjoy music and store photos and video clips. This trend is further aided by developments in high-speed wired and wireless connectivity protocols, such as USB, FireWire, WiFi, WiMAX, and Bluetooth - tools that facilitate ease in connecting media devices.

With the advancement in technology, an increasing number of memory-intensive applications have also been developed to meet consumer demand. For example, the resolution of digital still cameras has increased from approximately 1 megapixel to 7 megapixels or greater. Correspondingly, greater capacity is required to store the increasingly larger size of digital photo collections, personal digital audio libraries and digital movies. Flash memory is the predominant memory medium to store such increasing digital media content.

Digital technology advancement has likewise enabled audio, photo and video content to be digitized, transmitted, stored and catalogued. As the accessibility of digital media content continues to proliferate, demand has increased for a range of new digital consumer devices that incorporate semiconductor solutions, such as MP3 players, PC cameras, car navigation systems and broadband video phones. Due to the proliferation of these devices, consumers will demand the ability to create, store, exchange and play back more digital media content than ever before. Flash SSD fits the terrain perfectly with the offer of larger capacities in small form factors.

Best of Both Worlds
Just recently, Microsoft published a white paper entitled Hybrid Hard Disk Support in Windows Vista where the software giant endorsed the move to hybrid hard disk drives by notebook users. This move by one of the industry's key players only puts solid-state memory on the vantage point by integrating it with conventional magnetic media in what is considered as the fastest growing segment of the personal computer market. Microsoft has obviously seen the benefits of flash memory over other storage media. For one, the notebook's battery life will last longer as the disk is spun up only when data in the cache needs refreshing or writing to the hard drive. Another benefit is that system boot time can be significantly speeded up.

Judging by the way things are going, there is no doubt that flash SSD deployment in consumer electronics is inevitable. Market data by Gartner Dataquest Inc. shows the NAND flash market can hit $16.2 billion in terms of revenues for 2006, up 42 percent over 2005. But just like any technology, its dominance comes with volatility. An aggressive supply, fierce price erosion, overwhelming maturing demand and contracting elasticity in some applications are among the hurdles it needs to overcome in its bid to take over the consumer electronics market.

Memory Outlook Remains Optimistic in 2006

DRAM market is expected to show surprising strength, causing the combined segments to expand by nearly 13% for the year, although NAND Flash memory sales will rise more slowly than expected in 2006, according to iSuppli.

DRAM and NAND, which represent the two largest segments of the semiconductor memory market, together are expected to achieve revenue of US$40.2 billion in 2006, up 12.9% from US$35.6 billion in 2005. This compares to 7.5% growth in 2005. The figure below shows the iSuppli's forecast of combined NAND and DRAM revenue.

Reflecting recent market developments, iSuppli has trimmed its NAND Flash market revenue forecast to US$13.8 billion this year, down from the previous prediction of US$16 billion. While growth will fall short of iSuppli¡¦s previous forecast of a 49% expansion, the global NAND market is still expected to rise by 28% in 2006, up from US$10.7 billion in 2005, making this component one of the fastest-growing segments of the global semiconductor market in 2006, according to iSuppli.

"Recent price declines have spurred pessimism regarding NAND Flash pricing and revenue growth in 2006," said Nam Hyung Kim, principal analyst with iSuppli. Despite this, iSuppli remains optimistic about worldwide NAND market growth this year-and about conditions for suppliers.

"The main reason iSuppli is maintaining a positive view is that growth in the NAND Flash market is not driven by trends in pricing, but rather by the explosive expansion in unit shipments," Kim noted. For example, Average Selling Prices (ASPs) for NAND parts declined by about 55% in 2005, yet the NAND industry as a whole generated an estimated US$3.7 billion in operating profits last year, representing an operating margin of 35% for suppliers. That's a whole lot of profitability."

Kim expects another 55% ASP decline this year, making it likely that suppliers will be profitable once again in 2006. However, operating margins will decline as competition intensifies.

Even CPU speed freaks need more room to spare

author looks cool. har har har!

http://www.dsp-fpga.com/articles/alejo

NAND leads the way

NAND Flash Suppliers Score Big Gains in 2005

Scottsdale, Arizona --- March 28, 2006 --- Driven by demand from consumer and communications applications, the flash memory market enjoyed another solid year of growth in 2005. According to the March Update of IC Insights' McClean Report, flash memory sales totaled $18.6 billion in 2005, a 19% increase from $15.6 billion in 2004. Within the flash market, however, the NOR and NAND segments headed in opposite directions. The NOR market declined 13% to $8.0 billion, while the NAND segment grew 64% to $10.6 billion! In 2005, unit shipments of NOR flash increased 9% to 4.1 billion, while shipments of NAND devices increased an impressive 88% to 1.2 billion!

IC Insights' final 2005 ranking of flash memory suppliers shows that most vendors who provided NAND flash memory benefited from strong product demand. Topping the list of flash memory suppliers for 2005 was Samsung, a position it has held for the past few years (Figure 1). Samsung's flash sales (including internal transfers) grew 47% to nearly $6.6 billion, representing 35% marketshare. An agreement with Apple to supply flash memory for the iPod nano accelerated Samsung's second half sales and unit output.

Flash in the pan...

Flash technology fades in 2010, then "universal memory"

Intel Corp. sees current flash memory technology sustaining until the end of the decade, pushing out the need for ''universal memory" until 2010, according to Greg Komoto, manager of strategic planning for Intel's flash memory group.

Speaking at a session at the Intel Developer Forum here Wednesday (March 8), Komoto said Intel continues to believe that ovonic unified memory (OUM), also known as phase-change memory, is the most promising nonvolatile memory alternative, more so than magnetic RAM (MRAM) or ferro-electric RAM (FeRAM), which are also being studied as potential replacements.

Komoto said OUM shows the most promise based on its scaling path, declining cost basis and the fact that it is bit-alterable.

Intel has been doing R&D on OUM with partner Ovonyx Inc. since 2000, when Intel took a stake in that company. STMicroelectronics NV has also been licensed Ovonyx technology for some time. Last year, Japan's Elpida Memory Inc. licensed the technology, as did Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., as a potential replacement for flash and DRAM.

Intel executives have said in the past that the R&D effort has produced working OUM memories, but that cost has been an issue. Komoto said Wednesday that the R&D effort has OUM scaling visibility to 15 nanometers. Meanwhile, NAND and NOR flash memory technologies continue to scale, pushing out the need for nonvolatile alternatives.

Intel worked with Azalea Microelectronics Corp. to develop an OUM test chip at the 0.18 micron node in 2002. Stefan Lai, vice president and co-director of Intel's California Technology and Manufacturing Center told EE Times at that time that Intel would develop a 0.13 micron OUM prototype on its own.

Intel's interest in OUM dates back more than 35 years to September 1970, when Intel co-founder Gordon Moore and OUM inventors from Energy Conversion Devices Inc. co-authored a technical article on the subject in an issue of Electronics.

Taking the first step

Samsung Electronics Co. is showing a higher-capacity version of its solid-state disk (SSD), a flash memory-based replacement for hard disk drives, at the CeBIT trade show in Germany this week.
The drive packs 32GB of flash memory into a case the same size as a 1.8-in. hard disk drive. That capacity is double the 16GB of Samsung's prototype device, which was made possible by the continuing miniaturization of flash-memory chip technology.
At CeBIT, the solid-state disk is being demonstrated inside a Samsung laptop computer. Because the SSD is the same size and shape as the computer's hard disk drive, it was relatively easy to replace the disk drive with the SSD, said Yun Mini, a spokeswoman for Samsung.

SSD + Consumer = ?

Another One Bites the Dust

(reprinted with permission from Jun Alejo, BiTMICRO Networks)

There's no denying the fact that some people are willing to pay a premium for speed. Business travelers would take a plane rather than a ship, while workers will flag down a cab, spending a few more bucks, just to get to their office on time. This unquenchable need for speed is very apparent in the broadband industry where rapid growth rate has become noticeable as users sign up for DSL service in favor of dial-up to acquire faster download speeds.

On the computer hardware side, chip manufacturers are investing billions of dollars to keep up with Moore's Law. Several years ago, system developers struggled with the problem of performance discrepancies between microprocessors and hard disk drives. Technological advances have resulted in exponential increases in processor speeds, while storage access times have only improved marginally. As a result, fast processors are forced to slow down and wait on mechanical storage devices to deliver its data.

This quest for faster processing capabilities gave birth to solid-state disks (SSDs). By solving the problem of latency with its ingenious use of solid-state memory, SSDs have narrowed the CPU-storage performance gap, providing networks with faster transactions and increased productivity overall.

However, processor makers encountered problems in improving processor performance by increasing the operating frequency. To push the performance bar a few notches higher, the industry tinkered with an innovative processor architecture design. Multi-core technology, which involves the placement of two or more powerful computing cores on a single processor, promises better handling of applications such as complex 3D simulations, larger databases, streaming media files, and more sophisticated user interfaces. By providing each core with its own cache, multi-core systems have sufficient resources to handle most computing intensive tasks in parallel.

Although the first dual core design was introduced by IBM in 2000, this architecture is slowly gaining momentum among other major suppliers. AMD launched its dual-core Opteron server/workstation processors on April 2005, the same month that Intel announced its Intel Pentium® processor Extreme Edition. A month later, AMD rolled out its dual-core desktop processors, the Athlon 64 X2 family.

Intel opened the year with a bang by releasing the Core Duo processor, a dual-core chip that is the heart and soul of Apple's latest line of iMacs and Macbook Pros. However, a bigger bang awaits the industry with the impending launch of the multi-core "Cell" processor, a joint project of IBM, Sony, and Toshiba. Powered by eight "synergistic processor cores," Cell developers claim that their 64-bit Power processor-based architecture can deliver 10 times the performance of the latest PC processors in entertainment and rich media application, thanks to "supercomputer-like floating-point performance" and "clock speeds in excess of 4GHz."

Sony's PlayStation 3 video game console will contain the first production application of the Cell processor. On the enterprise side, IBM demonstrated a blade server prototype based on two Cell processors running the 2.6.11 Linux kernel. Although the processors ran at 2.4- 2.8 GHz, IBM expects to run them at 3.0 GHz, providing 200 GFLOPS single-precision floating-point performance (theoretical) per CPU, or about 400 GFLOPS per board. By arranging seven blades in a single rack mount chassis, IBM estimates a total theoretical performance of 2.8 TFLOPS (or 284 GFLOPS in double precision) per chassis.

With these mind-boggling capabilities on the horizon, the microprocessor industry is again on the verge of breaking the CPU-storage performance gap wide open. Dual- and multi-core processors thrive on multithreading applications, and despite significant advancements made in increasing data storage access times, an entire network will slow down to a crawl if the performance gap issue is not resolved. By the looks of it, storage device manufacturers will bite the dust once again—or will they?

Source: http://www.e-disk.com/article_another_one_bites_the_dust.html